Anderson County jail investigation records made public

The Anderson City Council approve a $60 million budget with the second and third reading at City Hall on Monday, June 26, 2017.
Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail

Capt. Garry Bryant, former director of the Anderson County Detention Center, meets with the Anderson County Council's public safety committee to discuss the need for a new jail on Friday, February 17, 2017 in Anderson.(Photo: Katie McLean/ Independent Mail)

Days after state investigators closed their probe of activities at the Anderson County Detention Center, a chief deputy with the Sheriff's Office said there may be more disturbing details to come.

Mike Mitchell, chief deputy of the Anderson County Sheriff's Office, said his agency is wrapping up its own internal review of the jail. The Sheriff's Office, Mitchell said, is not participating in a separate probe that is being handled by the Anderson County government, its finance division and hired consultants.

"This thing is like a dang onion," he said. "You peel back one layer and there is another layer that concerns you."

Mitchell declined to talk specifically Friday about his concerns. He said the Sheriff's Office probe began in March after two employees told him that "new tools would just appear and couldn't be accounted for."

Mitchell's comments came as the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division made public its records of investigating inmate labor practices in Anderson County and allegations of misconduct against former jail director Garry Bryant.

Bryant, who oversaw the jail for more than a decade, was fired in May, and Anderson County Sheriff Chad McBride soon asked SLED to investigate allegations that certain inmates lacked jail supervision and that their labor had been used for inappropriate projects. David Wagner, the 10th Judicial Circuit Solicitor, reviewed SLED's investigative file and concluded June 21 that there was insufficient evidence to criminally charge Bryant.

SLED released its case file last week in response to a Freedom of Information request from the Independent Mail.

The file included at least 25 interviews with inmates in which they were asked everything from what they wore in the jail to how they made money.

SLED Senior Agent E.G. Donohue concluded that inmates were properly insured, supervised and uniformed. Donohue also concluded that inmates who were allowed to do outside projects were not routinely searched when they returned to jail after their work. McBride said Monday that omitting those searches is a violation of the Sheriff's Office policy.

The SLED record also included Donohue's interview with Bryant at the former jail director's Upstate home. In that interview, Bryant said he believed Pickens County Chief Deputy Creed Hashe may have been involved in his ouster. Bryant said in a recent interview that he can't prove Hashe's involvement, but that he is certain "outside influence" played a role in his termination.

Hashe, an Anderson County resident and former sheriff's candidate, vehemently denied being involved in Bryant's dismissal.

Inmate interviews

The SLED file includes records of interviews with dozens of Anderson County inmates who are trustees. Trustees are inmates who have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty of crimes and sentenced to state prison.

Generally, trustees serve time for low-level, nonviolent crimes and are near the end of their state sentences. When they are found to exhibit good behavior, they can receive permission to serve the remainder of their sentences at county jails, often with responsibilities that allow them to spend part of their days outside cells.

Some trustees specialize in carpentry, metalwork, electrical jobs or other skills that are used in the maintenance of Anderson County buildings. The trustees were questioned by SLED agents about a number of practices, including how they were supervised and what they wore. The inmates were also asked whether they had used county-issued credit cards, purchased items for personal projects, or received tips for washing and detailing cars.

One inmate told a SLED agent he made watches, clocks and jewelry boxes in his spare time, then gave the items to his family or had them donated to an orphanage. He told them he used his own money to buy exotic wood for the projects, and according to records, had the receipts.

All the inmates interviewed said that when they used items for personal projects, they spent their own money or built things from scrapped pallets or fallen tree limbs.

Only one inmate who builds model ships and jewelry boxes told a SLED agent that he sometimes traded or sold those items to inmates for money, food or shampoo. He said he did that because his family rarely visited so he didn't want to rely on relatives for supplies. He said he had given some items he made to jail staff, but only to show that he appreciated their professionalism. He said he had never been paid by staff or received special favors for his work, according to records. That inmate built a model ship that Bryant kept in his office.

All the inmates interviewed said they had never used county-issued credit cards. Instead, they would tell supervisors if they needed supplies for county jobs, and would sometimes travel with the supervisors to stores to pick up the supplies.

McBride said in an interview Monday that he doesn't believe in allowing trustees to travel to stores.

"That really upset me," he said. "I said, 'You've got to be kidding me.' Some people might say that I am overreacting because trustees have shown good behavior. But in my mind they are still inmates serving their time. If we allow them to go to stores, how can we be sure we're not putting the public at risk?"

Some inmates had been handed the phone to place supply orders in the presence of supervisors, according to the SLED case records. That generally happened if the inmates were ordering specialized supplies that their supervisors were not familiar with, according to records.

SLED agents were told that trustee inmates were not routinely searched when they returned to their cells from outside work, according to the records. One inmate told agents he had seen other inmates driving county cars across the grass after the cars had been washed and detailed.

At least two inmates told SLED agents that they sometimes received tips from deputies for detailing their patrol cars. According to the records, the inmates said the tips were usually $2 or less. One of the inmates estimated that he got about $10 a month in tips for washing cars.

'Personal and political'

SLED agents interviewed Bryant at this home May 12. Agent Donohue asked Bryant about his dismissal from the jail and the Sheriff's Office.

"He said he was told that he did not follow certain policies and that he had used inmates for inappropriate projects," Donohue wrote in a SLED investigative report. "Bryant said that he was not given any further explanation."

Bryant said he has never been cited by the South Carolina Department of Corrections for any improper activities in regards to inmate labor at the Anderson County Detention Center.

Bryant said inmates had been used to build a courtroom at a magistrate court in the county and they also helped renovate some additional offices there at the request of McBride and Mitchell, according to records.

Blake Taylor of the state Department of Corrections, whose duties include interpreting issues of compliance, told SLED agents that remodeling by state inmates is allowed, according to interview records.

Agents asked Bryant about inmates building model ships.

Bryant replied that some of the more talented inmates made items like that.

"He said he was given one and put it in his office," Donohue wrote. "He felt that it belonged to Anderson County Sheriff's Office and served as an example of the talent some of the inmates had."

Bryant left the ship with the jail when he was terminated.

Bryant told SLED agents of his termination that, "he couldn't help but feel it was personal and political in nature," Agent Donohue wrote. "He said he felt like the chief deputy in Pickens County, Creed Hashe, may have been involved in some way."

"He knew Chief Deputy Hashe didn't care for him personally because Sheriff McBride was going to make Hashe his chief deputy; however, Chief Deputy Hashe told him he couldn't work with Bryant," Donohue wrote.

Bryant told the Independent Mail on Friday that he can't prove Hashe was involved with his dismissal.

"I don't know that's a fact," Bryant said. "But I suspected it. There was definitely some outside influence. I didn't understand it then and I don't understand it now."

Bryant said McBride told him that Hashe wouldn't work with him.

McBride, who took office in January, said Monday that he did not know what Bryant was talking about.

"I know that when you're about to take office, there are 100 different people who have 100 different opinions and you try to be respectful to everyone," he said. "But I'm not trying to hire a bunch of fourth-graders who can't work with each other."

Hashe, who ran for Anderson County sheriff in 2012, said he is surprised his name showed up in the SLED report.

"I don't work at the Anderson County Sheriff's Office and I don't have any influence there," Hashe said. "I am just kind of stunned by this. Whether I have an opinion about Garry Bryant or not, I don't have anything to do with whether he was in compliance with policy. They certainly didn't confer with me before he was dismissed."

Hashe acknowledged he is a strong supporter of McBride. Hashe also acknowledged that he was involved in group discussions about the future of the Anderson County Sheriff's Office. Hashe said he told McBride months ago he believed the Sheriff's Office needed a new command staff, but has no recollection of ever singling out Bryant, who was a captain on that staff.

"I think I would remember if I said something that strong," Hashe said.

Hashe said that he is "professional enough to work with anyone," including Bryant. Hashe said he does believe he was a "strong candidate" to be McBride's chief deputy, but that at one point made it clear to McBride that he had "found a home" at the Pickens County Sheriff's Office.

Bryant said he is now working with a private company and wants to treat his dismissal from the Anderson County jail like "a chapter closed."

"The thing that hurts my feelings is that the questions that were asked to me by SLED were never asked of me by my own office," Bryant said. "It was almost like the decision was made for me to be gone, that I was tried and convicted without having a chance."

"I ended an almost perfect career with a black eye for no reason," he said. "I have been cleared by SLED, but in the court of public opinion, I was convicted."